Socialisation Is A Fundamental Sociological Concept Sociology Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Socialisation is a fundamental sociological concept as it is the way we learn to be a functioning part of the society we are in, how to become a member of the group. Socialisation starts from the moment we are born and there are many arguments that help to show how such socialisation is a continuous process. It continues throughout our lives to help us fit into and be accepted into the many groups within society that we encounter during our lifetime or to just adjust to the changes in our existing community. Although an Important social topic that affects all members of society at one time, widespread mainstream literature concerning gender socialisation is difficult to come by.

As mentioned, socialisation starts from the day we are born, the very start, so to help understand socialisation as a whole, developing an understanding of some of its parts is helpful. For this piece of work I shall be focusing on gender socialisation and the impact it has on an individual's socialisation into society. The concept of gender socialisation helps us to understand how the notion of gender, what is expected of individuals as males and females in society and how much it matters. Throughout examining literature for this topic I hope to gain a better understanding of what academic sociologist have to say on this topic. The aim is to try to Identify important factors that impact gender socialisation and what literature is current on a similar topic. Has there been a change in attitude to such gendered socialisation and the idea or construction of gender? What are these and how are these developing; I.e. gendered parenting/modern schooling? I also would like to explore nature vs. nurture/boy vs. girl/male vs. female. What are these titles and how are they explained in a sociological way. I hope to gain a greater concept of gender theories and what is already known about my chosen topic.

To help to develop my understanding of sociological explanations for gender socialisation I have approached several academic texts to help guide and aid my understanding. The first book that I revised is The Paradoxes of Gender (1999) by Judith Lorber. Written by Feminist and sociologist Lorber I found that this book challenges the basic idea we may hold of gender and its construction. Lorber argues that gender is a social fact constructed wholly by socialisation. Lorber also notes that gender is also a social institution, comparable to religion, the economy and the family as with it follows consequences and social significance. As a feminist Lorber's work focuses on the need for gender and how it is an inevitable fact that is important not only for the identity of an individual but also for society's construction. While I initially focused on Lorber's Text for a main point of reference I also followed up with works such as Women, Men and Society (1999) Renzetti and Curran, The Gender Trap (2012) Emily W Kane. These texts form the primary reading for this lit review. I supplemented these with more classical theory books such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Classical Sociological theory (2006)

What is gender socialisation?

There are many different theories of how gender socialisation happens and how/when it occurs. To help understand gender socialisation, an attempt at a definition is helpful. In its simplest form gender socialisation is how an individual learns and accepts the expected gender norms and values of the culture and society they are born into. Through this education they begin to develop a sense of identity and their ideas of gender become internalised and guide their behaviour. The Paradoxes of Gender (1994) attempts to explore all areas of Gender and the influences they have on gender identity and wider gender influences.

To help with gender socialisation there are ideas within the wider concept that help to make up a person's gender socialisation. Lorber sees Gender norms as a set of 'rules' appropriate for males and females; they are a set of expectations these expectations help to dictate how men and women are labelled, and therefore how they should behave. The 'rules' and expectations follow on to become internalised and help to forma gender identity, which leads us to the second point highlighted to help gain an understanding of gender socialisation; Gender identity. Sociologists make a clear distinction between gender and sex. A persons 'sex' is biological determined and gender is culturally learnt. Gender identity goes beyond just recognising the physical biological gender characteristics belonging to male and female and identifying them from each other. Gender identity is in fact an internal personal conception of how an individual view themselves as male or female. 'Gender cannot be equated with biological and physiological differences between human males and females. The building blocks of gender are socially constructed'. (Lorber 1994:17)

How gender socialisation impacts Individuals life choices.

Gender socialisation impacts all areas of social life and therefore does in fact make it an important topic of study. The way an individual is socialised in terms of their gender has an overall impact on daily life including that of social self, self-concept and the way we conduct personal relationships with others and the perceptions we make. Family, friends, social peers and outside uncontrollable sources are all agents through which socialisation occurs. Religion, mass media education and pop culture are becoming ever increasingly influential over socialisation and how an individual views themselves in respect to their gender. Boys and girls are treated different right from birth, this treatment is often primarily from members of their own environment, such as their parents, siblings and extended families, and the way they are treated helps them to learn the distinction between being male or female. 'Most parents create a gendered world for their new-born by naming, birth announcements and dress. Children's relationships with same-gendered and different-gendered caretakers structure their self-identifications and personalities' (Lorber 1994:25).Similar to The Paradoxes of Gender (2004), Men, Women and Society (2002) also addresses the many aspects of what we see as gender. One of the most interesting research topics explored in this book is the concept of how outside choices influence a child's gender socialisation. This is quite often transmitted through simple gestures such as the selection of gender based toys or giving a child a gender based task 'Research does show that children express gender based toy preferences as early as one year of age, but their toy 'choices' may have been inspired even earlier by parental encouragement' (Renzetti and Curran1999;74). These seemingly insignificant acts do in fact play a large part in the socialisation of children, and as a result how they develop their gender identity, and therefore their ender socialisation. A common theme throughout all the literature based around gender, explore varying influences on what is gender and how it constructed.

Nature vs Nurture vs gender identity.

An influential and on-going debate amongst sociologists is the argument of the importance of nature vs. nurture in terms of gender socialisation. This ever evolving debate attempts to discover how a biological identity differs over individuals social surroundings to develop a gender identity. A biological and genetic gender identity fuels the 'nature' area of debate whereas society and external influences help to form the idea of 'nurture'. Many argue that to efficiently form an active gender identity, there must be a significant influence from either nature or nurture, but the question continues as to which is more influential, if either. In the Journal article The Nature of Gender Udry attempts to distinguish between what is sex; and what is gender. 'Gender is the relationship between biological sex and behaviour; a theory of gender explains the relationship. A gendered behaviour is the one that defines sex' (Udry 1994;561). This idea and the theme of this article help to highlight my initial argument about discussing how gender is a social construction. Sex is a given but a person's gender can be perceived differently dependant on how they behaviour. My project will attempt to further this idea by looking into how this behaviour is shaped and learnt.

Children start to come into contact with such norms that define what it is to be masculine or feminine. What is acceptable or unacceptable behaviour is placed upon them in both conscious and unconscious ways. Young boys are taught not to show high emotion, to be strong and powerful whereas girls are showed how to be forgiving, docile and 'ladylike'. If a child shows to be going against such expected 'norms' then there is the chance that they can expected to be ostracised from their community or culture, or treated badly. In exceptional circumstances some cultures limit access to basic human rights such as nutrition health care. The treatment of genders in some cultures can also help to reinforce a separate gender identity, for examples in many third world cultures, girls have both different legal and ethical access to education so therefore go on to expect to be treated differently from boys, all based on their gender identity. Toy selection and clothing although seemingly innocent can in fact play a crucial part in gender socialisation. 'Clothing plays a significant part in gender socialisation. As children become mobile, certain types of clothing encourage certain or discourage particular behaviours or activities' (Renzetti and Curran 2002; 70) by this Renzetti and Curran refer to the idea that the way a child is dressed can influence their expected gender identity. For example a female child dressed in a soft, flowing or lace detailed dress would be expected to behave more soft and gentle compared to a male child in Denim jeans who would be accepted for rough and tumble behaviour.

The Psychological and Biological explanations for gender.

To develop a greater understanding of sociological explanations for gender socialisation it is also important to compare and contrast the arguments raised to those of another discipline. As Urdy notes it is important to consider new schools of thinking as social science stems from such thoughts. It is also impossible to study 'gender' without noting the biological differences of human beings. 'Gender has biological foundations' (Udry 1994 ; 571)

One of the most prominent theories about gender acknowledgement comes from the school of psychology. Sigmund Freud's work focused on the importance of childhood and the experience that children experience that children gain throughout it, especially in relation to their gender. Freud noted that gender development is an unconscious experience that occurs through forming a bond with a parental figure. Although this project will focus on primarily the sociological explanations for gender socialisation many texts touch upon further academic disciplines who discuss the construction of gender. It is therefore important to include such references into my project, due to the reference through the literature I have reviewed.

Society's expectations.

Society's expectations of male and female positions within society have also changed over time. Throughout this project I hope to investigate the suggestion that societies tolerant of the changing gender of identity of females has become more positive. A rise in females in the workplace, taking on stereotypical male occupations (fire fighter, police force, and, engineer) and asserting dominance in regards to their position throughout society. Family socialisation can be seen to encourage female children to display characteristically 'male' but male children are often scorned from displaying any stereotypical female behaviour. Girls are accepted even if they prefer to play with male orientated toys, if they were trousers or show an interest in 'rough and tumble' but if a male child played with baby dolls or wore a dress may experience more negative reaction from society. 'Parents, through primary socialisation, can be seen to be more likely to encourage their daughters to these masculine qualities then allow their sons to display feminine qualities' (Van Volkon 2003) Here Van Volkon gives weight to the importance primary socialisation, through their family can have on a child. The role of women is seen to be changing in contemporary society, but does this mean that the main social gender identity is getting left behind?

Conclusion.

Looking at gender sociologically helps to reveal societal and cultural proportions of something that is generally thought of as biologically fixed. It helps us to understand how individuals are in a new viewpoint and to help raise and in the end answer new issues and debates surrounding gender. Throughout this project I hope to uncover answers to sociologically questions such as is gender culturally learnt? I am also interested in uncovering how important, or how much influence the family have on gender socialisation, especially in relation to children and childhood. To help with this the work of Emily Kane in The Gender Trap (2012) has proved useful. By conducting Interviews and observations of families, parents and children this literature helps to give empirical backing to the texts I have read throughout this review.

Gender socialisation and how it is understood is an ongoing sociological question. Above is a brief overview of what literature I have found useful to attempt to study the subject of gender socialisation. As society can be seen as every changing I am interested in what such change, if any has on the construction and notion of gender. As understood throughout the literature reviewed modern institutions, such as education and the family, have great influence on society and how its individuals are taught how to 'fit in'. Ideas and the construction of gender are constant with more radical forms of socialisation occurring i.e. gender neutral parenting and its societal impact. Not all the literature I have come across has proved useful to my project research, but this has allowed me to learn mistakes that previous research uncovered and helped to give my research direction and fresh thinking for future research. Throughout wider reading, I have concluded that using more contemporary sources and academic texts helped to give my research weight and productive reference.

Introduction.

The aim of this paper is to examine the influence that family has on gender development and the socialisation process. It will focus on how family influence can affect the construction of gender identity in children from birth through to the first year in primary schooling, around 5-6 years of age and also how the process of socialisation impacts parents. I shall attempt to examine both primary and secondary influences that can shape the gender identity of a family.

The first part of this paper shall look at how becoming a parent can force an individual to have an influence on the gender identity of another and how this process may change their existing gender identity. Secondly this paper shall attempt to examine how the primary socialisation process impacts female children compared with male children.

Society and its actors view the world through a series of lenses: those lenses can include class, race, age and gender. Society is full of stereotypes and the expectations that come with them. Social actors have little choice but to be subjected to learning these expectations and to submit to the influence they have on their personal identity. From childhood to adulthood our identity is constantly being reinforced as to what our culture and society wants and sees as acceptable. These stereotypes are expected of everyone but in fact may not be fair to all members of society. As they move through childhood, children are influenced by those that they interact with and are taught right from birth what it is to be a 'successful' member of society.

To understand the sociological concept concerned with the construction of gender, it is important to comprehend first of all the factors that influence one's gender construction. The continuing aim of this paper is to show that it is possible to identify different areas of gender socialization, which vary in their impact on children and those around them, which are essential to build up a gender identity. The best way to understand the concept of gender is to gain a basic knowledge of the concept it. From a structural perspective, gender is seen as the division of individuals within a society into contrasting and complementary social categories; 'boys' and 'girls' into 'men' and 'women'. In this conceptualisation, gendering in the process and a gendered social order can be seen to be the product of some kind of social construction (Lorber, 1994).

Gender based norms can be defined as what we expect from males and females within society whereas gender stereotypes can be seen as how a society generalizes these expectations. Gender based stereotypes are generally first thought of being taught in the home, which are later reinforced by peer interactions, education and schooling, as well as widespread media contact. It can be seen that the family unit does in fact have the largest influence on a child's gender development. Their family members, parents in particular, overtly and covertly teach their child gender roles and reinforce the ideas of gender that they hold about themselves. Both socialisation, primary and secondary, cultural expectations and given biological attributes are all seen to influence an individual's gender identity and as a result has a significant effect on their personal identity.

Vuorinen & Tuunala, (1997) noted that 'Socialisation is the process, through which the child becomes an individual respecting his or hers environment's laws, norms and customs.' (pg45) From this, socialisation can be seen as a fundamental sociological concept and therefore is an important area of analysis. It is the way that individuals learn to be a functioning part of society and how to become an accepted member of the social group in which they are living amongst. Socialisation starts from the moment we are born and it is seen as a continuous process. It carries on throughout our lives, to help us fit and be accepted into the many groups within society that we encounter during our lifetime or to simply adjust to the changes in our existing community. The 'educational' function that Murdock refers to, can also be termed 'socialisation'. The family has the responsibility of transmitting a society's way of life, norms and values to the younger members. This function is an important one as, without culture, the society could not survive, and too much deviation from the norm would disrupt the stability of the society.

Classical sociology has also be long concerned with the process known as socialisation. Talcott Parsons (1959) has written about the functions of the family and identified two functions that he perceives as being 'basic and irreducible'. For Parsons, the family provided primary socialisation of children and as a result, produced the stabilisation of the personalities within adults amongst wider society. [Haralambos & Holborn, 2000, p.509]

How children become socialised into different characters can be based on their sex. Through this more focused form of socialisation, boys and girls are repeatedly taught what it means to be male or female and what gender roles will be expected of them is termed gender socialisation (Giddens, 1993). Although it is an important social topic that affects all members of society at one time, widespread mainstream literature concerning gender socialisation is difficult to come by.

There are many different theories of how gender socialisation happens and how or when it occurs. The two main theories I shall touch upon within this paper are social learning theory and as a follow on to this, social identification theory. These two theories are concerned with the development of gender identity and attempt to explain how the environment around an individual can influence their personal and social gender identity. Social learning theory proposes, established by Bandura (1971) that both gender identity and gender role are learned through a process including observation, imitation, punishment and reinforcement. On the other hand, social identification theory developed by Tajfel and Turner (1979) as a response to Bandura is based upon the notion that an individual portrays certain behaviours or an identity that reflects the social group to which they belong, to help them adapt and adopt the ways of the group.

In its simplest form, gender socialisation is how individuals learn and accept the expected gender norms and values of the culture and society they are born into. Through this education they begin to develop a sense of identity and their ideas of gender become internalised and guide their behaviour. The mass media, wide spread social norms, environmental factors such as living conditions and even language distribute the stereotypes which influence social behaviour and therefore what is expected from gender in society. These external factors contribute to categorizing members of society and placing social label upon them. Examples of labels can include race, class and most importantly for this paper, gender. A shared stereotype is when an expected behaviour or conformity is mutual and accepted by all members of the social group, the way that individuals interpret this label determines how well they are accepted into their social group.

Such gender stereotypes can be seen as a set of 'rules' appropriate for males and females. These rules help to guide how males and females are labelled by their social group and indicate how they should behave, expectations become internalised and form an individual's gender identity. Separate stereotypes are linked to male and female members of society, with no two overlapping. Men are seen to be strong and emotionless whilst women are expected to show their emotions and are seen as submissive and gentle. For example, if a woman is seen to cry at an emotional moment in a movie, in a public cinema for instance, no individual around her would glance or question it, but if a male viewer was seen to cry openly and express such intense emotion, he may be exposed to ridicule or judgement. How fair this situation may be is often debated. For this paper the question of how such judgements occur will attempt to be answered. Why have social actors been encouraged to accept such stereotypes as a given? Why do individuals therefore find themselves accepting these roles for themselves?

To understand gender identity it is important to make a distinction between 'sex' and 'gender'. 'Sex' involves the biological and physical differences between men and women, whilst gender is culturally and socially learnt. Terminology such as 'male' and 'female' are sex based categories; however 'masculine' and 'feminine' are gendered categories. An individual's sex is a biological fact that is the same in any culture or society, nonetheless sex categorisation means, in terms of gender role as 'man' or 'woman', can be viewed extremely differently across cultures ( WHO 2013). These gender roles can have a lasting impact in an individual's public and private identity. Although often used interchangeably, sex and gender are clearly different characteristics. Gender involves social customs, attributes and behaviours whereas sex can be seen as a more personal demonstration of such characteristics. In its simplest form sex is biological and gender is sociological.

'Gender role' is seen sociologically as the characteristics and behaviours that society can attribute to the sexes. What it means to be a 'real man', in any society requires a male to be both recognised biologically as a man plus what the culture of that society defines as masculine characteristics and behaviours, likewise a 'real woman' needs biological female attributes and feminine characteristics. Such stereotypical features are clearly defined for each sex, with those who break such 'guidelines' being seen as deviant, outcasts in their given society. This paper will look further into what are expected gender behaviours and the sociological explanations for these expected personas.

Gendered differences can depend on the given society and the cultural values, economic system, history and family structures that it holds, and are thoroughly maintained through these mediums. As a result of this a continuous 'loop-back effect' between so called gendered institutions and the social construction of gender within individuals can be seen to exist (West and Zimmerman 1987)

Gender identity goes beyond just recognising the physical biological gender characteristics belonging to male and female and identifying them from each other. Gender identity is in fact an internal and personal conception of how individuals view themselves as male or female and therefore how they conduct their actions within society. 'Gender cannot be equated with biological and physiological differences between human males and females. The building blocks of gender are socially constructed' (Lorber 1994:17).

As a social group, communities are embedded with gender, all members experience gender constructed experiences throughout their childhood, adolescence and eventually adulthood. These experiences are reproduced in and through those that they interact with. To what extent individuals accept the expected gender roles they are shown is debateable although no matter how much or how little they see themselves as masculine or feminine, gender can still influence their day to day existence.

British sociology saw the only significant form of stratification within any given society was that of class. The term gender wasn't mentioned in early sociological thought, with any reference to difference between men and women categorised and referred to as 'sex'. Sex being considered as an important and influential sociological concept only came into consideration with the emerging and developing feminist perspectives of the 1970's. Feminists had to fight through traditional theories to change existing thought on the concept of differences and inequalities brought about by an individual's gender and sex identity.

Socialisation is a fundamental sociological concept and can be applied to many areas of society that are seen as important to sociological study. As highlighted earlier, socialisation is defined as the way in which an individual learns to become part of a group, including wider civilization, as well as their small immediate environment and community. Socialisation begins the moment an individual is born, and they encounter different degrees of the process throughout all their life stages in order to help them adapt to each and every social group they encounter. Socialisation also helps to equip a social actor with the tools they need to cope and bend with any changes that may occur within their existing social group. Given the importance of socialisation within the discipline of sociology as a whole, concentrating on a focused area of socialisation can help with building a general knowledge that can be applied to further study of sociology and its topics. Gender is something that is experienced and encountered by all members of any given society and there are many different theories about what exactly affects an individual's gender socialisation, but this paper shall focus on early socialisation and the influence family life can have in the socialisation process.

Parental influence on gender identity

A child's initial experiences come from their parents; therefore as a result their first experience with gender identity also comes from their close family environment. With the advancement in technology, expectant parents can learn the sex of their unborn child as early as 14-16 weeks into a pregnancy (nhs.co.uk). From that moment the words 'it's a boy/girl!' leave the technicians mouth, gender expectations begin. The most innocent of tasks such as buying a baby's first blanket is gendered. A pretty pink flowered one for your baby girl is associated with the expectation that she will be soft and delicate, whereas purchasing a vivid blue truck covered blanket for the soon to be baby boy, can be seen to set him up to be strong and tough. Associating such gender traits in a simple act may seem extreme but it is just the start of teaching a child what is expected from their gender.

The process of gender socialization can be seen to begin in the context of the family (McHale et al., 2003). The family unit is the environment that a child is introduced to the world in and what their developing gender demands. Although many factors are seen to have an influence on the socialisation of a child and teaching them what is expected from their gender, parents are seen to act as the principle source of socialisation, the primary socialising agents of a child's gender roles. (Block, 1983; Witt, 1997).

Studies have shown that gendered treatment of children is evident in the first 24 hours after birth. Children internalize what they see from their parent's behaviour and by the age of two, they have a compressive awareness of the difference in sex roles. Ruble and martin (1998) studied preschool children whose socialisation had only occurred at home (primary) and saw that children showed awareness of stereotyped gender traits. They could recognise males as having a higher power them females, but also associated negative connotations with a male figure, such as anger or unfriendliness, whereas they saw women as having less significant social standing but associated with positive traits such as kindness and approachableness.

Children also demonstrated to discover gender identity through their own gendered perception. For instance, when asked to assign a sex or gender to a neutral doll, a girl would use female associations similar to them, whereas a boy child would make the doll into a male and demonstrate traits that are associated to society's masculine gendered attributes. Parents are seen to encourage such gendered behaviour by adhering to sex-based toys and games for their children, which have a heavy influence in the construction of gender identity and stereotypes. While both mothers and fathers contribute to the gender stereotyping of their children, fathers have been found to reinforce gender stereotypes more often than mothers do (Ruble, 1988). Lytton and Romney (1991) conducted a meta-analysis of 172 parents and their treatment of the boy versus girl children they were raising. Within this study, Lytton and Romney discovered that out of multiple identified socialisation areas; the only area that showed mothers and fathers treating children differently was giving them activities based on their separate genders. Giving boys and girls activities initially based on their sex, resulted in an enforcement of gender roles and becoming gender orientated. Encouraging their daughters to play house or with dolls and prams, or by allowing their sons to play with trucks or building blocks, parents may both knowingly and unknowingly be encouraging their child's future gendered persona.

Perhaps due to an influence of western culture norms, Lytton and Romney saw that parents scold and punish boys more severely in the advent of misbehaving or going out of their gendered expectations, then that they do with female children. This idea shall be further explored in a later section of this paper.

A further study, this time by Cowan and Hoffman (1986), saw that a child's first words are also seen as gendered. For instance, being taught to assign a different name to each of their parents, mother for female carer and father for male carer, demonstrates how parental influence takes place. Hoffman also noted that they language a child learns is also linked to their gender. Parents teach their female children to talk with a soft tone and use positive and polite conversation, whereas boys have a wider license to speak louder or using harsher words.

By recognising that their mother and father are different, like their difference in names, children also notice that there is a variance in gender by the way they are treated by their parents and how their parents treat each other. For example, a child learns gender differences by the roles that their different family members assume and how their relationships with each other are structured, such as the division of labour in the household, as well as how they are perceived by wider society. The majority of research that touches upon parental influence on gender socialisation focuses on how parents direct their child's activities or behaviours towards a particular gender stereotype based on their given sex. As McHale (2003) points out, a child's observations of parental roles can also have an important impact on gender socialisation. Following the principles of the social learning theories, it is possible to see that a child's experience of a non-gendered or non-traditional parental relationship, i.e. where parents assume non-stereotyped roles between, them can result in a less gender stereotyped form of socialisation, therefore a child can gain a more fluid gender identity. The more egalitarian a relationship between parents is, the more egalitarian their children will be (McHale et all. 2003). By this McHale has highlighted that an equal share in decision-making power, gender role attitudes, and divisions of housework, childcare or employment will shape a more relaxed child's gender socialisation. This idea of a more flexible gender identity will be explored in the section of this paper entitled 'Gender neutral' on page 40 - 41.

It is also important to consider the relationship children have with other family members and the impact that such relationships may have on their recognition of gender identity. Along with witnessing the relationship between their parents, the way they are treated in comparison to their sibling is also important, for example a sister may see the different way her father treats her in comparison to her brother and therefore become aware that there is a variation in the place that she, as a female, occupies in comparison to her brother, who is identifies as male.

During the course of reading for this paper, it has come to my attention that siblings are relatively neglected in the study of family gender socialisation. Brothers and sisters have an important impact on a child's gender identity construction; siblings serve as a social partner and a source of social comparison. By this, siblings provide a measurement to which children can compare themselves and their own gender, and how they may be treated, most importantly by their parents. They also form part of and have influence on the family structure, activities, routines and relationships that are part of the socialisation process.

Early studies about parental influence on gender socialisation attempt to draw conclusions on parent's sex-based comparisons, from studying family relationships. 'Most parents create a gendered world for their new-born by naming, birth announcements and dress. Children's relationships with same-gendered and different-gendered caretakers structure their self-identifications and personalities' (Lorber 1994:25). Moving on from this idea, family treatment of sibling can be more effective to test the influence parents have on the gender identity they pass onto their children and if they treat boys and girls differently.

Along with passing on a notion of gender identity to their children, becoming a parent can also change an individual's personal gender identity. Modern families no longer accept 'traditional' structures, favoured by classical sociologists such as Talcott Parsons (1959). There is still a set up that includes the combination of individuals who are bound together with certain responsibilities and duties, with these being accepted and carried out by members of the family unit. Traditional gender roles were put into place to create a structure by wider society to order to guide what roles each family member is bound to in relation to their gender. Females are the care givers, in charge of raising the family and maintaining a household as well as providing emotional support for the family unit. On the other hand males are the 'hunter/gatherer' type who should go out and provide for their family, delivering the economic support for their family unit. Mchale et al (1999) noted that the fathers' role in a family particularly would determine how a child's gender identity is formed. If a father held a more traditional role in the family unit, i.e. the main financial provider and 'head' of the family, the more a child would be socialised into a traditional gender identity stereotype. The less traditional role a father adopted, less stereotypical gender identity would be passed onto a child.

In contemporary society, with the change in wider economic circumstances, it can be seen that this structure may not be applicable anymore. Both males and females could be seen as 'the head of the household' if they are both in an occupation that provides financial support for the family unit, since quite often a combined income is needed to maintain a reasonable lifestyle. At this point can the original family dynamics can change when an individual becomes a parent?

More than 2.8 million parents, who once would have stay at home to care for their children, have returned to work since 2003 (bbc.co.uk/news) with many blaming the rising cost of living. Both parents may have the need to work and earn for the family and therefore, both father and mother may gain equal social status and financial obligation. At this point, the role of the 'homemaker' can become not one singular individual's responsibility and instead, both the partners may look to the other one to provide such a role; although before they have children this is seen as less important. Adjustments, understanding and empathy are the advised features that may help a family to run smoothly. Adhering to the classic concepts and ideas about how a family unit, such as those established by Parson's way back in 1959, should be and the lifestyles they 'should' have, may help only to cause friction in an established relationship.

Almost every study on the different way that parent's adopt the gender socialisation process with their children focuses on the interactions that they conduct with them. It is also important to consider parental beliefs on sex based and, therefore gender based values and activities. This may influence how they view what boys and girls are like or how they should behave, and the causes of gender based differences. Also the experiences that parents orchestrate, seemingly from afar, for their children in everyday activities, such as roles at meal times or who they meet, may once again help to promote a different experience for a male child versus a female child.

Girls

As mentioned in the introduction to this paper, the general agreement on gender socialisation is that it is the process of learning cultural and social roles in relation to one's sex. This process, starting from birth, involves girls and boys being treated different by those around them and therefore learn that boy and girls, males and females, are different and they start to develop an identity to fit into such stereotypes or expectations.

Gender socialisation occurs through the different parental and societal expectations placed upon a child, like a gender specific choice of toys or clothing, and shaping this into an identity to which a child and overall individual can recognise themselves. As stated, gender socialisation starts from birth and can be seen to continue throughout the life cycle, during childhood, adolescence and even adult life.

While sex can only be defined in two ways, male or female, with no option in between, gender can be seen as a wider spectrum in which individuals can attempt to be more flexible with their identity. They can identify themselves as masculine, feminine or something in between. Although gender can be seen as flexible how such flexibility is accepted by wider society is a debatable topic. This flexibility also helps to give us an idea about how influential gender socialisation could be on a child, allowing them to create a gender based identity.

Some sociological writers have seen that the direction and creation of their personality, primarily based on a child sex, is what is needed to develop masculinity or femininity identity within that child. This direction is formed through very early interaction with their parents, particularly their mother, due to the response and compassion a child receives from their mother, results in a 'secure' attachment style (Rothbard & Shaver, 1994).

The development of a child can be seen as basically the same for both sexes up until the age of three years old during the first three years, the mother is seen to be the dominant figure in the child's life with the father playing a lesser role. After the age of three a child can be seen breaking away from their mother's guidance and gaining influence from others around them. During this stage and onwards, the mothering role is seen to affect boys and girls differently. For female children, a mother-daughter relationship develops an internal identity that is reflected from their mother's behaviour towards them and how she is perceived by those around them (Chodorow 1989). As a result, mothers reinforce and continue to create the gender stereotype that there is a difference between men and women by treating their children differently. These early interactions can be described as conscious or unconscious, but are universally seen to have an overwhelming effect on how children consequently would interact with those they meet through their socialisation. Feminists see this as a vicious cycle, by sociologists placing high importance on the role mothers play within childhood gender socialization, it is also seen that women are the main reinforces of gender stereotypes.

Feminist sociologist Nancy Chodorow (1989) saw that the role of females was to be the primary caregivers and initial role models in the development of sex differences within children. Chodorow notes that the early experiences that young children come into contact with are the result of the bond that develops early on between mothers and their babies. This bond leads to how male and female identities are formed differently. A separation from their mother is seen to be an important step in forming a male identity for male children, whereas girls do not have the need for this separation and can form a female identity whilst maintaining such a close bond. Chodorow also has seen this separation as a root of patriarchy within wider society. The separation felt by boys from their mothers can be argued as an explanation for the devalued role of women that male members of society may hold. This paper shall examine this idea at a later stage.

Girls who have been raised in a more egalitarian household can be seen to have a more flexible attitude towards expected gendered stereotypes. By seeing their mothers provide for the household in an equal share to their fathers can help show them how to break free from the expected female gender stereotypes. In a cross-cultural study that took western samples of family units, including Australia, Sweden and America, they concluded that male and female children who grew up in female headed households are deemed to be more unrestricted to gender stereotypes compared to those who are raised in a duel-parent household or even those where a father is seen as the head of the household (Sidanius & Pena, 2003; Hochschild, 1989). Evidence from such a study helps to demonstrate how females tend to be more open to equality between the sexes and willing to reject those stereotypical gender attributes, explored earlier in this paper, than males. This trait would have an effect on how they socialise their children when becoming mothers, as well as how female children accept gender socialisation.

British feminist Viola Klein questioned the social ordering of sex roles mentioned by traditional (and predominantly male) social commentators. Klein (1971) wrote around the idea that the traditional and expected social roles for men and women created inequalities between them; through her writings she exposed the androcentric themes and bias information that existed in traditional sociological theories about social life and institutions that exist within it. By this, Klein introduced a new perspective on sex roles of both men and women, a perspective that questioned the existing male centred point of view that was occurring within sociology and following social sciences. Through her writings Klein examined how femininity within girls is socially constructed and is social traits rather than given biological characteristics often referred too. Sex roles are not just an indication of difference between men and women, but of a wider issue of social division

As mentioned throughout this paper, gender roles are perceptions and beliefs about how men and women should behave. These behaviours can relate to how they are expected to be socially, culturally and emotionally. Gender roles and the stereotypes attributed to boys and girls affect them in different ways, often as a result of how they are viewed to be conforming to the expected characteristics placed onto them by wider society.

There are many gender stereotypes placed onto girls, but the main area of discussion is how (primarily) parents and family life influence how little girls see their role of being a female within the immediate household. By encouraging them to play with dolls, their parents reinforce the idea that females are to be the main caregivers. By not allowing their daughters to play rough with others, they teach them that females must be gentle and soft. Traditionally girls are expected to fulfil the stereotype that the female role within society is to marry, have children and stay and maintain a household (Parsons 1959 in Haralambos 2000), putting her family's needs above her own and to be loving, compassionate and nurturing, whilst also maintaining a healthy and positive personal image for those around her.

Gender inequalities can affect most children in both a negative and positive way. Existing guidelines on gender roles and characteristics help to give direction to a child attempting to find their personality and place within wider society. In contrast, such guidelines are seen as expectations and can be detrimental for a developing child. Gender stereotypes and gender bias can in fact hurt those who are seen to be 'deviating' from their gender roles. Boys who like to read or dislike sports and girls who want to play sports or dislike 'playing house' are neglected within gender socialisation. The idea of gender equality benefits both boys and girls; working toward gender equality will enable boys and girls to be themselves, instead of being bound by rigid and stereotyped gender roles placed upon them by an outdated wider society. Crawford urges parents to "attribute a girl's success to her abilities, not to luck, circumstances, hard work, or effort" (1996, p. 91).

Stereotyped and widely held gender roles can be broken in many ways. Adults taking part in their daughter's gender socialisation can expose her new ways of being and experiences that can change her expected gendered identity. Showing a developing girl about females in unexpected roles, such as visiting a female doctor or mechanic and generating external positive role models outside of the home at an early age can help to show her the diverse possibilities she could have against pressurised gender stereotypes. Along with this, it can also help socialising them into groups and organisations, that can help encourage skills and further qualities that are an extension of gender expected stereotypes. Organisations such as girl guides help to teach young girls skills and knowledge that can be put into gender socialisation. Girls are able to play independently and are taught skills such as first aid, safety and survival skills, as well as traditional roles such as cooking or helping others (Tarvis 1992). Being introduced to such organisations by their parents is a positive influence on their gender socialisation. Alongside life lessons, girls can also see the social equality they could have in relation to their boy counterparts.

Throughout childhood, most children come into contact with toys and games. Childhood toys can also have a persuasive influence on a girl's gender socialisation. Many girl direct toys encourage the old-fashioned idea of being nurturing by introducing them to play with baby dolls and adopt the role of 'mummy'. Further on, girl's toys can teach them the value of a good appearance for societal acceptance. Girls learn to take care and maintain their appearance to certain guidelines. American corporation, Mattel has created an international female icon through their doll 'Barbie'. Mattel has been criticised by many as reproducing an unattainable image through their Barbie products and teaching generations of children about how 'picture-perfect' a girl should be, and how this will make her popular and accepted throughout society. Barbie and similar gendered toys have been criticised as creating a "standard of beauty" which young girls learn to value. The doll sustains unattainable body measurements, if Barbie was a living breathing woman, she would be unable to stand and severely malnourished, 'Empirical studies confirm that her body proportions are unrealistic, unattainable, and unhealthy' (Dittmar, Halliwell and Ive :pg 284).Through exposing their girls to such gendered toys, like Barbie and her companions, girl children are socialised to think that the ideal, socially accepted female is thin, fashionable, possibly large breasted and most importantly, silent.

Feminists have pushed to open possibilities for girls and remove barriers or limitations placed upon them due to their gender. By encouraging new or expanded roles within the household, education and the media, and to allow girls to experience sports, science, being able to wear jeans and other stereotypical male clothing and cut their hair short, all which were once off limits for female children would enable them to become women needed for a well-rounded functioning society and to break the constraints put upon them.

Boys

So far, it has been established in this paper that gender stereotypes play a large part in gender socialisation and how males and females are perceived within society, and which starts when society's children are very young.

Males are traditionally seen as the strong and emotionless heads of the household. As women hold the caregiver role within families, allowing their sons to be seen to express their emotions is seen as a negative role of socialisation. It is important to help boys avoid negative stereotypes, in order to help create both a positive identity for them and how they go on to perceive others they meet throughout their socialisation.

Socialisation can help boys avoid constricted and pessimistic gender roles. Breaking 'expected' gender roles can have a positive effect on how a boy will turn into a man and how he will develop. Crawford notes how encouraging a male child to express emotions fully and to encourage nurturance in boys throughout the socialisation process, as well as exposing them to male nurturers and giving them baby dolls of their own to nurture, can in fact teach them how to adapt to a parenting role in the future. Boys are often cheated of their own emotions by well-meaning parents, who are afraid of judgement of others or that their baby boy will be considered 'inferior' to other children he encounters. Crawford comments on how such nurturing amongst males can have a wider impact on society "the crime rate, frequency of domestic violence and sexual harassment data confirm that we do not have a problem with oversensitive males in this country: If anything, we have the opposite" (Crawford, 1996, p. 23). Further to this Crawford uses the example of young males and dancing to address a change in attitude to male gender socialisation. Encouraging young boys to dance and teaching them about history of men in dance and ballet, allows them to be able to express emotion in a healthy physical manner. It is also seen as an opportunity to combine physical exercise with the opportunity to also express their emotions. Lastly, it helps boys to find exciting and colourful clothes to wear; Crawford notes the boys should be allowed more self-expression in the way they dress (Crawford, 1996).

As mentioned previously, parental choice of toys and games for their children has an important influence within the process of gender socialisation. This paper is concern with the primary socialisation of children from birth to roughly the age they enter mainstream schooling in the UK, which is around 5-6 years of age. As primary socialisation agent, parents have the greatest influence in gender construction within their children, and this is done both overtly and covertly.

Parental toy choice and child- parent interaction through childhood games and toys has an initial influential power over a child's gender socialisation. Research into gendered toy choice sees that parents can be more aware of gender in their choice of toys for male children than they are of age appropriateness (Witt: 1997). Parents seem to be stricter with what they consider gender appropriate toys for their sons to play with, by choosing masculine or more neutral toys, whereas they can be seen to be more relaxed with their toy choice for their daughters. Further to this, young male children (from around the age of 24 months) can demonstrate a profound awareness of gender based activities, characteristics, clothing and physical appearance of men and women (Leinbach & Fagot, 1993). Such data is important to consider when examining the influence on gender socialisation, as such evidence points out that children gain an understanding of sex differences well before evidencing awareness of gender-typed toys.

Rewards and encouraging behaviour is a form of covert gender socialisation. Praise, physical rewards and even facial expressions can help to reinforce gender-based behaviours. Perhaps due to an influence of western culture norms, Lytton and Romney (1991) saw that parents scold and punish boys more severely in the advent of misbehaving or going out of their gendered expectations, then that they do with female children .Children imitate gender based behaviours from those around them, especially from their parents, through this form interaction and game playing.

Gender socialisation through interactions with others is known as social learning theory, in which it is assumed that children are inactive participants in the process of socialisation (Bandura 1977). Although social learning theory is used in many early childhood socialisation theories, it fails to explain why gender and its associated sex role are the first 'social systems' that children learn or factors that continue to affect gender socialisation at further life stages. The language and interactions male children experience can be dramatically different than their female counterparts; Acts of punishment or harsh tones are used more frequently with male children when they are exhibiting 'unacceptable' male behaviour or taking on a stereotypical female role. At a young age this is often through toy choice or play, for example when a male child chooses to play with a doll house or female orientated toy (Gleitman, Friedlund & Reisberg, 2000, p. 500) along with this, boys are usually discouraged since a young age from showing extreme or 'displaced' emotions (Morris, 1988, p. 366).

Gender role stereotypes are established within early childhood experiences and gender socialisation is an on-going process that starts from birth. Messages about what is expected and accepted based on gender difference can be so strong even when children are exposed to different or challenging experiences based on gender, they can still revert back to stereotyped choices and expectancies (Haslett, Geis and Carter 1992).

Gender neutral

Providing a strong sense of gender identity can have many benefits. Allowing a child to recognise and accept their socially accepted gender roles and identity can help to provide a sense of security; a foundation needed to negotiate certain social situations and to facilitate decision making. Gender divisions are so accepted within contemporary western society that in order to challenge perceptions of gender, we must take one to step out of the generalised 'comfort zone.' Challenging this comfort zone can be done by defying the accepted gender perceptions through a primary socialisation agent such as that which parents represent; and these parents choosing to raise their children 'gender neutral'. As mentioned in the introduction to this paper, gender is the division of social categories, 'boys' and 'girls' turning into 'men' and 'women'. In this structural conceptualization, gendering is the process and the gendered social order the product of social construction and socialisation (Lorber, 1994).

The concept of gender neutral parenting was brought about by a second wave of feminism, when liberal feminists adapted the theory most effectively. Gender neutral socialisation was first thought about with purpose to elevate gender role constraints placed upon female children in the socialisation process, but liberal feminists also saw the benefits such a neutral socialisation process could have on both male and female children.

Gender neutral parenting is the idea that a parent does not 'force' sex and gender role expectations on their children. The concept of gender neutral parenting does not involve denying a child its gender, but to allow a child to experience a childhood free of gender based restrictions. Parents who adopt such an androgynous attitude can be able to encourage the best for both their sons and daughters, based on the individuals they are and not what their sex is, and as a result what social gender identity dictates they should be. Applying this idea to something as simple of toy choice for their children can also help to encourage toy manufacturers to rethink the way they market their toys: not directed towards gender but towards children ( Day for the observer : Appendix 1)

Parents who also adopt a more gender neutral identity themselves can have a more fluid influence over their child's gender identity. As explored previously, a child can experience gender socialisation through the influence of their parents and how they conduct themselves, their roles within the household and wider society. The contemporary Western world is considered extremely gendered and it has two legal categories: 'male' and 'female', and those who deny such categories make those who conform to them, question the wider concept of gender.

Conclusion

As it is considered mostly impossible to tell the difference between new-born babies, they are dressed according to the gender they are perceived to be according to their sex. In the assumption that new baby girls are' soft and delicate'; they are decorated with soft pink with floral patterns whereas, 'tough' little boys wear trucks and strong primary colours. The toys they are gifted with also provide indicators to what they are expected to become and behave throughout their childhood and into adulthood. Toys such as baby dolls or kitchen sets encourage domesticity, and other 'sexualised' dolls such as the Barbie doll mentioned before, create an idealised physical image.

Through various forms of guidance and direction from external influences children experience gender role socialization. In contemporary western societies, boys and girls learn at a young age there are differences between themselves and their brothers and sisters, or other male and female children. This difference can be seen throughout daily life and it's encouraged first and foremost by their parents, through the expected behaviours and norms they are taught during their childhood (Albert, 1988).

As explored throughout this paper, toys are used to instil the idea of masculinity and femininity in children throughout their experiences of gender socialisation. Boys are given loud and violent toys and their rowdy and boisterous behaviour is justified and dismissed due to their given gender; we've all heard the phrase 'boys will be boys!'. Boisterous or loud girl's, on the other hand, are scorned and prevented from exhibiting such behaviour. They are urged to behave like 'ladies', otherwise they are treated differently, almost delinquently, to other female children who are accepting of such expected behaviours. Female children who exhibit such behaviour are labelled 'tomboys' which therefore attributes the male gender to them, based on the assumption that the territory of aggression solely belongs to males.

This paper has attempted to explore the gender socialisation of children and if the family has a defining influence in shaping a child's gender identity. As we can see, gender socialisation may start with the family unit but it most certainly does not end in the home. Social participants help to police each other to conform to our gender throughout our childhood and adult lives. This can be seen to happen both through individual interactions and collectively as a society.

Parents that do no teach their children to act in the expected roles connected to the sex of their children are judged by the masses and encouraged to do otherwise. The language that any given society uses, reflects the gender biases it holds. Strong men are admired but strong women are demeaned within society and are seen to be aggressive, 'A woman who shows emotion in the workplace is often cast as too fragile or unstable to lead. A woman who shows no emotion and keeps it hyper-professional is icy and unfeminine. For many women, it can be a no-win situation.' (Bock in Goudreau 10 24, 2011: Appendix 1).

This paper has attempted to just explore the primary socialisation of gender, but to gain a complete sociological understanding, it is also important to recognise secondary socialisation: the education system, schools and teachers are seen to further reinforce gender norms through the various tasks and knowledge they expose children to, for example, a simple task such as grouping and encouraging children to separate and bond into groups of their own gender. Even subject choice helps to reinforce expected gender roles; boys are encouraged into mathematics and away from home economics and girls are persuaded, and often excel the other way (Department for education and skills 2007).

It can be very easy to take gender for granted and it is a natural part of whom a social individual can be. Those who conform may truly believe that sex and gender are the same, but when faced with an individual who does not conform or has gone against their initial expectations, both physical and socially, such natural assumptions are universally questioned. At the end of the day, the only genetic difference between men and women is one chromosome (Mckie for The Observer 2010: appendix 3). Yet, based on that one tiny and seemingly inconsequential chromosome, society has come to divide its social actors into two separate and accepted social groupings.

Some studies have questioned the influence parents have over their child's gender socialisation and role development. As explored throughout this paper, socialisation can be seen as a two way interaction process, with parents changing and adapting their gender identity through the process of child-rearing and attempting to socialise their children to become social actors and be accepted by the social community. Development can also be influenced external factors such as peer groups, the media and education, which may have a larger collective influence on one individual's